The present invention relates to a phospholipidic composition having the features of the generic part of patent claim 1 and use of such a phospholipidic composition.
Phospholipid compositions with a concentration of more than 10% by weight L-xcex1-glycerophosphatidylcholine, preferably with a glycerophosphatidylcholine concentration of approximately 30% by weight or more are known. These phospholipidic compositions are used as effective and valuable ingredients in pharmaceutical products, cosmetic preparations as well as dietary preparations because of their glycerophosphatidylcholine content. One of the main problems with such a use of these known phospholipidic compositions is that glycerophosphatidylcholine is strongly hygroscopic, so that such compositions are very difficult to handle, especially when the glycerophosphatidylcholine concentration is high, and thus storage and accurate metered addition are difficult accordingly.
To find some relief in the problem of hygroscopic properties of such phospholipidic compositions containing glycerophosphatidylcholine, it is known that glycerophosphatidylcholine or the corresponding phospholipidic composition containing glycerophosphatidylcholine may be granulated using a binder, so that this binder provides the glycerophosphatidylcholine particles with an outer coating which prevents water from gaining access to the glycerophosphatidylcholine, so that the corresponding hygroscopic properties of these phospholipidic composition are reduced. Such a granulation method is very time-consuming and energy-intensive, especially since the binder, which later forms the coating around the glycerophosphatidylcholine, is added during granulation in the form of a dilute solution. Due to the fact that overmoistening during application of the coating leads to collapse of the granular structure, the binder solution must be added slowly and cautiously, while the solvent is removed continuously at the same time.
In addition, it is known that glycerophosphatidyl solutions may be sprayed onto a sorbent carrier, said carrier having only a limited uptake capacity for glycerophosphatidylcholine without the carrier thus loaded with glycerophosphatidylcholine becoming hygroscopic itself.
Furthermore, the hygroscopic glycerophosphatidylcholine may be bound to a matrix by spray drying, in which case the substances forming the matrix are usually water soluble, so the expenditure of energy required to accomplish this is especially high, and the glycerophosphatidylcholine composition prepared in this way has only a limited glycerophosphatidylcholine concentration.
The object of the present invention is to make available a phospholipidic composition which contains glycerophosphatidylcholine and whose hygroscopic properties are decreased to such an extent that such a phospholipidic composition can be processed satisfactorily, in particular even at a high glycerophosphatidylcholine concentration,
This object is achieved according to this invention by a phospholipidic composition having the characterizing features of claim 1.
The phospholipidic composition according to this invention has a minimum glycerophosphatidylcholine concentration of at least 10% by weight, where the composition according to this invention is granular and also contains, in addition to the glycerophosphatidylcholine, a granulation aid selected from the group comprising a monophosphate, diphosphate or triphosphate of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal or a mixture thereof. In other words, the phospholipidic composition according to this invention in which the glycerophosphatidylcholine concentration amounts to at least 10% by weight, preferably at least 30% by weight and especially up to 80% by weight glycerophosphatidylcholine, differs from the state of the art cited in the preamble in that the composition according to this invention is not in the form of hygroscopic granules, and the granules are also mixed with at least one granulation aid selected from the group consisting of a monophosphate, diphosphate or triphosphate of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal or a mixture thereof.